The Forest Final

This week, Brenda Cooper celebrates a win in the trial of a lifetime.

~ Julian and Fran, September 14, 2025

For September, The Sunday Morning Transport brings you new stories by Cecilia Tan, Brenda Cooper, Jennifer Hudak, and Mari Ness. As always, the first story of the month is free to read.

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The Forest Final

by Brenda Cooper

Sallie Thornton put a hand on Scout’s shoulder, scratching absently, nails sliding across silvered skin. Scout turned its head toward her, eye sockets widening slightly into its curious look. She regarded the sharp jowls, broad head, and flexible black ears. At rest, Scout looked more like a dog than a robot. When it moved, it looked like a hell of a machine. She loved it. Soon, she said.

Now, Scout replied. The rodog turned its head toward an incoming helicopter, just visible in the near-dawn light. As it neared the helipad, electric rotors ruffled Sallie’s hair and the soft collar of her uniform. She swallowed, tensed, and blew out a long breath. If she passed this final test, she would become an official Forest Guardian. If she finished in the top ten, she could pick where she worked. If not, she could end up in one of the ravaged areas, which might take years to work out of. If she didn’t die first. She swallowed again, breathed. Half her success depended on her partner. Partner assignments were anonymous.

She hoped for physical strength and a precise mind to balance her own speed and instinct. When the genetic gift fairy smattered dust on Sallie, she got grace and stamina, no useful height, and no significant physical strength. Scout made up for that, but the humans had to make the decisions in this test.

The rotor wind picked up and the copter landed gently on the gravel pad. Sudden silence amplified her heartbeat. The door slid open. A rodog half Scout’s bulk leapt through the opening and bounded to Scout’s side. An older redheaded woman no bigger than Sallie clung precariously to its back, her spindly legs barely gripping her rodog’s belly. Like Sallie, she wore a cadet uniform, moss on cedar on khaki, advanced combat boots, a helmet with embedded smart glasses, and a tool belt decorated with leather sheaths and holders. Her slender mount’s long neck and thin ear stalks gave it a hint of giraffe. The woman leaned toward Sallie. “I’m Orla.”

She had hoped for a young, strong man. Orla must be at least fifty. Sallie stifled her disappointment. First impressions didn’t really matter, did they? She took the offered hand, calloused and sun-darkened with pale pink palms. “Sallie. Pleased to meet you.”

Behind Orla, the helicopter’s rotors spun up. With a brief startling flash of noise and wind, it rose above them and darted off to the south.

The chime of an incoming order pinged and displayed in her glasses. Scout would have it too.

At or before 0500 on June 7, 2059, you are expected to report to Spokane Forest Guard Base Headquarters. Along the way, you will locate an artifact in the Teanaway Valley. Coordinates will be provided when you reach Cle Elum.

It was early on June 6. Spokane was on the eastern border of Washegon State. They were close to the western border, on a peninsula east of Puget Sound. Over three hundred miles. In twenty-eight hours. Through mixed territory. With at least one stop. She sighed and glanced at Orla. “Do you need a break before we go?”

Orla’s lenses cleared. Wrinkles surrounded intense green eyes. She spoke gently. “Let’s compare orders.”

Oh. “Good idea.”

At or before 0500 on June 7, 2059, you are expected to report to Spokane Base Headquarters. Two ambushes have been planned. You will be graded on how well you avoid these, or if you don’t, how well you prevail.

“Thank you,” Sallie said. She flicked a copy of her own message to Orla.

Orla smiled. “I do need a moment. While I’m preparing, can you evaluate routes?”

As Orla’s rodog knelt for the dismount, Sallie slammed a lid on a slight rush of irritation at Orla for giving her an order. She was the top of her class! But maybe Orla was too. Sallie had never seen her; Orla must be from one of the other two training cadres. She asked her electronic assistant for a map of routes and times. Spokane lay due west, but Puget Sound blocked that direction. They’d need a boat or to go south.